


kingdom of yutopia

by suga



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Magic, Merpeople
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-30 07:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10158056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suga/pseuds/suga
Summary: the story of one prince falling in love with another.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there is a discovery

-1-

 

After days of what had been perfect sailing weather, the ship’s motors came to a complete halt causing everyone on board to stumble. The crew looked around, confused as they tried to figure out what had happened. They weren’t due to dock for another couple days at least.

“What is going on? Why have we stopped?” a large man said, stomping out onto the main deck of the ship, one arm moving up to cover the sunlight from his eyes while the other sat motionless at his side. “You’re not to go off course unless—”

“But sir, look!”

The captain whipped around to the man behind the wheel before he turned to see where he was pointing. His eyes widened almost immediately at the great sight in front of him, his mind racing for answers as he shouted new orders.

“Continue steering to the port side, slow the ship.”

The captain of the ship was at a loss of words for he knew they were about to be sailing around a very large area of underwater flora, but this land wasn’t on the map at all. He climbed up the staircase towards the wheel of the ship where the pilot stood looking between the trees and the captain.

“This wasn’t on the map.” The captain muttered to himself, pulling his telescope from inside his fitted jacket. The man squinted through the lens before nearly dropping the scope to the ground, shocked at what he had seen. It wasn’t at all what he had expected.

 _Perhaps I just haven’t had enough sleep_ , he thought to himself as he raised the telescope back to his eye. But sure enough, the image hadn’t changed.

The land wasn’t _land_ at all. Tall trees were sprouting from the water looking like any other forest you would see on land. Thick trunks carried large bushels of leaves, vibrant green in colour contrasting with the bright blues of the sea and the sky. From where he stood with the telescope, he could see sturdy wooden houses hanging in the trees connected by boardwalks and ropes. The thicker the trees became, the less he could see into this land in the middle of the sea. There were children running along the boardwalks, laughing and playing. There were buildings along the port, lanterns blazing with fire and small rowboats tied to docks, bobbing gently in the waves.

This was a place the captain had never seen nor heard of and it definitely wasn’t on the map that he had been studying for decades. This area _had_ been circled for caution, as it was a dangerous pass for the ships rudders due to the plants under the water. The plants then that were now large trees towering over them.

“Captain, sir?” the voice behind the captain made him jump and he turned to find the man still standing with his hands on the wheel. The ship had nearly come to a full stop by then, and the man looked as though he was looking for the next set of instructions.

The captain cleared his throat before speaking. “We shall head back to Makka. This is a discovery the king and queen will need to hear about. I shall write a letter to let them know we are on our way, and that we will be home in a short few days.” The captain said, frowning. Their voyage was supposed to go much longer, but he knew this was an important piece of information that the royal family would find interesting.

“Yes, sir.”

The captain gave one last look at the treed land before making his way back down to his quarters to write the letter to the king and queen.

 

Makka was a large nation a few days north of the newly discovered city. The kingdom spanned over many, many miles and connected with the far western kingdom of Cannam.

The main kingdom of Makka, where the royal family lived, was one of the coldest regions of the nation. When the ship had docked at Makka Bay few days after the discovery, the crew was met with snowy conditions despite the early spring trying to take its place. The crew shivered as they disembarked, bundling up in their coats, and the captain hurried to the castle to have his word with the king and queen.

The captain bowed deep after stepping into the throne room and walking up the long red and gold trimmed carpet to stand before the royals.

“My good sir, what brings you back so soon? The expedition was to last another week more days at least.”

“Your majesty, in my letter—”

“Your letter?”

The captain made a pained face and shook his head. “I am terribly sorry King Feltsman, it seems my means of communication defied me again.” The captain sighed as the king looked on, waiting for him to continue. “During our expedition, we came across a new land. The land had not been on the map, and instead of a large area of underwater plants that we had always sailed around, we found a large forest of tall trees, like you would see to the west before the mountains. But they were growing out of the water, and there were houses and pathways built between the trees.” The captain explained everything he had seen as the king watched him with a curious look.

“Did you mark the coordinates down? Did you explore this place?”

“The coordinates have been recorded and the map will be updated. We did not leave the ship to explore, but we came back home instead. We did not want to take our chances on the type of people living there; if they would be friend or foe.”

“You are armed, captain.”

“With all due respected your majesty, I didn’t want to meddle with, what seems to be, a brand new kingdom. The ship is equipped with weapons only for emergency, and this wasn’t an emergency.”

There was silence in the throne room before the queen finally cleared her throat, sitting up to look down upon the ship’s captain.

“We shall go to this new land. Please fix your communication device and send word to this kingdom that we would like to visit sometime in the coming weeks.” She said, voice harsh and monotonous.

“Lilia, are you sure?” the king asked, turning to the woman beside him, his crown slipping slightly from whipping his head to the side.

The woman turned her head slowly to look at the man. “We must discuss trading with this new kingdom and ask them to join the peace alliance.”

The throne room was silent for a few brief moments before everyone scurried out of the room and to work, knowing that the queen’s words were final.

 

“I can’t believe you get to go away!”

The prince sighed as he looked at the map on his desk before sitting up in his seat to turn and look towards his bedroom door. He blew a few strands of ashen hair out of his eyes and shrugged.

“I don’t really want to, but my guardians do not trust me to be on my own. I wouldn’t actually _be on my own_ and I am an adult, I don’t understand why—”

The man at the door sighed which cut off the prince. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before crossing his arms.

“Last time the king and queen left, there was a fire-“

“That wasn’t my doing!”

“There was a fire in the castle and you screamed and ran to the western woods. It took a week to find you!”

The prince puffed out his cheeks before turning back to the map.

“You should be excited to go, Victor. I wish I could.”

“Chris, I will gladly trade you places.”

The man at the door barked out a laugh. “Like that would ever happen!” The laughter soon left the man and Victor slowly turned in his chair to find his friend staring at the floor with determination.

“What—“ he began to ask before Chris looked up, his eyes piercing, startling Victor.

“What if you don’t come back?”

Victor’s eyes widened at the question and he stood from his seat, catching the back of it before it fell backwards. “Why would you even say—”

“What if you fall in love with a beautiful person and never come back? You’ll leave me here with Yuri!”

That time it was Victor’s turn to laugh, head back as the noise filled the room.

“Christophe, I am going to come back unless these people are violent, in which case I am stealing one of our rescue boats and coming back either way. One way or another, you cannot get rid of me. And what’s so bad about Yuri? He’s been much more manageable since Otabek stepped into his life.”

Chris didn’t look entirely convinced but he found himself nodding and forcing a smile. “Well, alright. Now, shall we fix your hair?”

“What’s wrong with my hair?”

“It’s nearly down to your ankles! You’re going to be tripping over it soon.”

Victor bunched his hair behind him and pulled it over his shoulder. He hadn’t noticed it had gotten quite that long, and with a resigned sigh he nodded. “I suppose you’re right. If this trip is a success, I do have to be the respectable and presentable prince.”

“You’re damn right you do!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which they meet

-2-

 

Yutopia was a land with a long history, starting from as far back as when water was all that the earth was made of. Land was only that that lay at the bottom of the ocean, the one that gave life to the plants that surrounded the kingdom.

As time passed, the kingdom of Yutopia grew with it. There population grew in numbers while they continued to build the underwater city upwards and outwards as the trees did, towards the light of the sun that they didn’t know existed. The kingdom, for the most part, was a peaceful one. They had no enemies, for the kingdom of Yutopia was all that existed for all they knew. The people of Yutopia knew nothing of the outside world, aside from those that swam to the surface. Those stories were passed through generations as folklore, and many didn’t believe it to be real.

But the trees continued to flourish, and the kingdom continued to reach for the sky. They continued to build their houses and shops upwards, winding around the thick trunks of the trees, and expanding the royal palace along with it.

Once the first trees started to break past the surface, there were a few casualties as people jumped out of the water. The oxygen in the air was far too much for some to handle, and it took many, many decades for the people of Yutopia to adapt to life on the surface.

 

“Are the rumors true, Yuuri?”

The man in question looked up from his book to his friend, who bobbed in the water with his arms resting on the dock. The two were relaxing near the harbor shops, taking in the sun overhead as rowboats were unloaded a few docks down. Gulls squawked as they tried to steal the shellfish from the wheelbarrows, and the two men laughed quietly to themselves as they watched the portly fisherman try to bat them away with his arms, screaming profanities as though it would help him in any way.

Yuuri’s eyes lingered on the fisherman for a few more moments before they slid down to look at his friend. A small smile grew on his face despite his heart starting to race at the thought.

“Yes. The king and queen of the Kingdom of Makka are coming tonight. They want to discuss things with my parents and the council, and I have to be in attendance of course.”

“Ah yeah, your princely duties.”

Yuuri scrunched his face before kicking water over with his feet that had been dipped in the warm water of the bay. “Shush.”

“I wish I could see them! The king and queen. I always miss everything.”

Yuuri bit the inside of his lip as he frowned. “Phichit…”

“I know, I know. It’s no one’s fault that I was born this way, I just feel like I miss so much. But I don’t want to get near the dock when their ship comes in, that only screams danger.”

Yuuri’s heart sank as he looked at his best friend before slipping his book into his satchel, which he slipped over his shoulders.

“Well, how about instead you come and help me find clothes to wear? You know I’m lousy at it.”

Phichit beamed up at Yuuri as he watched him slip into the water, dunking himself under the surface immediately as he kicked off towards the castle.

 

The royal family’s castle was made of several parts, as it grew taller over the years. The very bottom near the ocean’s surface was used as the kingdom’s jail. Which once stood as the main castle, they had refurbished the place for the thieves and murderers that found their way into the kingdom. As the castle grew, more of its lower sections were turned into different things. Above the jail was the kingdom’s courthouse, which was fitting. Above that they had renovated the space into a fish farm, to keep the fish population up for food for the kingdom, without having to completely disrupt the outside ocean’s food chain. Above the fish farm they had underwater crops of vegetables, growing in soil from the ocean floor. From then, there were theatres and restaurants, and the school for all of the children to attend. The castle’s servant’s quarters were on top of the school, and from then came the newest section of the castle, still a century old, but it was the current home to the Katsuki’s.

Yuuri and Phichit swam through the trees and towards the castle, waving at fellow Yutopians as they did so. The two remained quiet, aside from a fit of giggles as they tried to race the last few meters to the castle entrance, where the guards let them both in immediately.

The two swam through the winding hallways, past other bedrooms before reaching Yuuri’s quarters.

Yuuri’s room was large, as would be expected for the Prince of Yutopia. His room sat at the top most part of the water castle, before it shot up above the surface. Half of his belongings were submerged, while the top loft half of his room was completely dry.

Yuuri kicked off from the floor and towards the dry hardwood floor above, Phichit following suit. Yuuri climbed out of the water and shook himself, his clothes, hair, and satchel immediately drying as though he had never gone for a swim in the first place. He sat his satchel on his desk and turned to his closet.

“Alright, what am I going to wear?”

Phichit rest his arms on the hardwood floor and kept the rest of his body submerged in the water, his tail flicking back and forth as he thought.

“You have to wear one of your royal outfits, do you not?”

Yuuri clicked his tongue and nodded as he opened his closet. “As far as I know I do. I haven’t been told otherwise, but I suppose I can’t show up in my pajamas.”

“Yuuri! Do not show up in your pajamas!” Phichit cried, shaking his head. “I know how much you love your pajamas but I don’t believe they are for public viewing.”

Yuuri glanced at Phichit with an arched brow and a small smirk on his lips before turning back to his closet to push the hangers one by one.

“How about this one?” Yuuri asked, pulling a shiny red number from the closet, holding it up to his chest. “It’s from graduation.”

Phichit scrunched up his face and Yuuri immediately set it back in the closet, before pulling out a black blazer. It made Yuuri look sharp, but Phichit shook his head. And he continued shaking his head until Yuuri pulled out the last outfit, black slacks and a blue blazer that twinkled in the overhead lights. Phichit’s eyes widened and he nodded quickly.

“Yes, that one! It brings out your eyes.”

Yuuri frowned, confused. “My eyes are brown.”

Phichit rolled his own eyes and shook his head. “No, no. It brings out your _glasses_.”

“Oh my god.” Yuuri mumbled though pushed his closet closed with his free hand. He walked towards his bed and set the outfit down at the foot.

“What about a scarf?” Phichit asked after a moment, as Yuuri had started to peel out of his current clothes.

“A scarf?” Yuuri asked once his t-shirt was tossed towards his hamper.

Phichit cleared his throat and vaguely motioned to his own neck, where two slits ran up either side of his neck to breathe underwater. Yuuri nodded once he had realized and stepped towards his drawers.

“We don’t want to make that mistake again.” Yuuri mumbled, searching for a scarf that would match with his outfit.

“That’s why I was surprised to hear that we were going to be getting visitors, especially after what had happened with…”

Yuuri winced at the thought, remembering the very first time they had had a foreign ship dock in their bay. Yuuri had been quite young still at the time, and had only heard stories through the grapevine. He hadn’t been allowed into the throne room for the meeting, and he was glad for it, as he knew he probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.

His mother and father had hosted the royal family of a kingdom farther east, though they hadn’t been a royal family at all. In fact, they had been a ship of pirates, and took anything they could for their own. Thankfully the bandits couldn’t swim far enough into the water to steal their most prized possessions, but they cleared mostly everything else out.

“ _They called us freaks because we can breathe underwater.._ ” Yuuri had heard his father tell one of his friends a few months after the event, when mostly everything had been restored. “ _Baring our necks to strangers may not be wise.”_

It was a few weeks later, Yuuri remembers, when the top seamstress of Yutopia visited the castle with a large grin on her face. Yuuri remembered sitting in the throne room with his parents, kicking his legs back and forth, bored and waiting for the meeting to be over. His eyes, however, were drawn to the item in her hand as she held it up in front of her.

“ _These can help hide our necks._ ” She stated simply before folding the large square fabric into a triangle, before wrapping it around her neck. There were flecks of silver and gold weaved through the black fabric, and Yuuri’s eyes widened. The seamstress pulled the fabric off her neck after a few moments and held it out in front of her. “ _If you please, I would like to offer the finest scarves to your family before I set up shop for the rest of Yutopia._ ”

Yuuri grinned as he found the dark fabric at the bottom of his drawer and pulled it out, fabric glittering just as it had all those years ago. The seamstress had given him the very first scarf, and Yuuri cherished it because it was beautiful, and it matched nicely with the outfit he had chosen for that night. He held the scarf up over the outfit before looking to Phichit, who nodded with a smile wide on his face.

 

Horns blasted as Yuuri stepped onto the dock a few hours later. He had fully changed into his new garments and squinted as the sun set behind the large ship coming into their bay. Yuuri could feel his nerves start to peak as he thought of all of the stories of the pirates from years ago. The difference this time was that this visit was a planned visit, they had had plenty of notice to prepare their guard if needed.

Yuuri stepped up beside his parents as the ship came to a full stop, and the fishermen on the dock helped everyone off of the ship with large smiles and friendly greetings.

The first off of the ship was a tall woman with sharp features. Her appearance made Yuuri anxious, and he knew that he should never cross her, for she put a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. Following her was an older gentleman, who looked just as daunting though Yuuri felt that it was a façade.

Behind him, however, Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat and his face warmed about ten degrees. A slender man, taller than the man before him, stepped off of the boat and onto the dock, his hair flowing beautifully behind him with the ocean breeze. Yuuri couldn’t break his gaze away until the man in question looked at him. Yuuri immediately tore his eyes off of the stranger and glanced to his parents, who were walking to greet their guests. Yuuri nearly stumbled on his feet. The three Katsuki’s bowed once the other family came to a halt in front of them. Yuuri’s father was the first to step forward with his hand out.

“I am Toshiya Katsuki, King of Yutopia. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He greeted, beaming. “This is my wife Hiroko, and my son Yuuri.”

The harsh woman standing in front of them glanced between the three and Toshiya’s hand before finally taking it. Yuuri could see his father wince at the handshake.

“It’s my pleasure.” She drawled as she let her hand move back to her side. “I am Lilia, Queen of Makka. With me I have Yakov, King of Makka, and Victor, Prince of Makka.”

Yuuri’s eyes moved across as Lilia introduced them and he could feel his cheeks redden as his eyes met with Victor’s. He gulped down a lump in his throat and looked to the wooden dock under his feet, trying to act interested in the lines of the aged wood.

The Katsuki’s led the Makka royal family to the castle where a large meal had been prepared, which was waiting in one of the large dining rooms. Food covered the entire length of the table, and Yuuri could feel his stomach rumbling as he stepped towards his seat beside his mother. He hadn’t been expecting Victor to sit across from him, and he nearly choked on his drink when he took the first sip after looking up.

 _Dinner is going to be hard to eat,_ Yuuri thought to himself.

Dinner was a quiet affair with nothing but the clinking of cutlery filling the room. Small talk came in short bursts, about the pleasant weather in Yutopia compared to the harsh cold of Makka. Hiroko asked many questions about snow and other strange weather that Makka seemed to have, because Yutopia only knew sunny skies and small clouds and wind. Rain was rare, but the kingdom wasn’t at a loss being that the majority was already water.

“Snow sounds interesting.” Hiroko said, leaning into the table as if to hear more.

“The snow can be quite thick at times. Children like to throw it about and build things with it. Victor had once built an igloo in the center of the kingdom.” Lilia explained, nodding her head towards the younger man, whose cheeks flushed at the mention of his name. Yuuri eyed him for a moment before looking back to the fish on his plate, not wanting to be caught staring.

“It was neat until these kids from district two came and dumped hot water on it, making it melt.” Victor said before sighing, poking at his meal with his fork. Yuuri noted that he hadn’t eaten much off his plate aside from his salad.

“What is an igloo?” Toshiya had asked, and the three foreign guests all cocked their head to the side, completely forgetting that snow was a completely new concept.

 

Dinner came to an end a short while later, and the six people around the table stood at the same time.

“The meetings will be tomorrow in the late morning. We are sure you’ve had a long few days of travel, so you are more than welcome to rest for the rest of the night. Our servants will take you to the guests quarters, and we encourage you to look about the kingdom at your leisure, and please do not hesitate to ask for anything you may need.” Hiroko said with a wide grin on her face before turning to Yuuri, who startled slightly, not having been prepared for the attention. “Yuuri, dear, why don’t you show Victor to his room?”

“I, uh—“ Yuuri cleared his throat as he could feel his cheeks warm once more. “Right, of course.” He finally managed to spit out, nodding towards his mother. He turned to Victor, unsure of how he was going to talk to the beautiful man before him. They had barely spoken two words to each other over dinner, and Yuuri could feel his nerves peak.

The servants by the door eagerly took Yakov and Lilia towards their room where their luggage was waiting for them. Yuuri slid his chair back under the table and looked to Victor, swallowing a lump in his throat.

“I’ll show you to your room.” Yuuri said, proud that he hadn’t let his voice crack.

“Of course, lead the way!” Victor said, grinning at Yuuri, and Yuuri had to look away from the blinding sight.

The pair walked out of the dining room and down a hall around the back of the grand staircase. The castle was a mishmash of winding hallways and staircases, all of which Yuuri knew well. He could see Victor out of the corner of his eye; his head was whipping back and forth to take everything in as they walked through the dim hallway before nearly tripping into a large hole in the floor.

“Whoa, what is this?” Victor asked, looking down once he had regained his balance. He frowned as his eyes adjusted. The hole was one of the entryways to the lower parts of the castle underwater. Victor crouched down to look inside, lights twinkling under the surface. It was in no way a staircase, but a full on hole to another floor.

“The castle is mostly underwater.” Yuuri said simply, biting the inside of his lip.

“Underwater? But there are things down there?” Victor asked, squinting to see furniture lining the hallway and a rug covering the floor.

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah. I guess you haven’t heard the history of Yutopia.” Yuuri wasn’t surprised at all, as he had learned over dinner that Yutopia had only just been discovered by Makka only weeks before.

“I know absolutely nothing of Yutopia. Will you teach me?” Victor looked up at Yuuri; his eyes wide with wonder and Yuuri couldn’t find it in his heart to say no, so he nodded.

Despite his nerves, Yuuri found him covering all of the basic history that he knew. He explained how the people of Yutopia adapted over centuries, and how they came from the ocean’s floor and worked their way to the surface as the large trees grew from the ground. He spoke of the legends of the surface before the trees broke through, and he spoke of the pirates that had ransacked them nearly two decades before and when Victor looked at him with concern, Yuuri assured them that they hadn’t come back since. Their guard had grown strong since the attack, but Makka’s ship from a few weeks before hadn’t been close enough to alert them.

“Most of our greatest treasures are locked away and underwater. Only those of Yutopia would be able to get to it.”

Victor frowned as he looked at Yuuri. “Maybe this is a personal question, but how can you breathe underwater?”

Yuuri’s eyes darted to the hole in the round as someone swam by, his eyes widening as he realized Phichit had found him. His friend gave him a wicked grin before swimming back out of sight, and Yuuri glanced up to Victor as the man looked to the hole, confused. Yuuri cleared his throat to get the man’s attention back before shaking his head.

“We breathe underwater just like you may think we do,” was all Yuuri said before stepping in the direction of Victor’s guest bedroom, the scarf around his neck becoming far too warm.

 

Yuuri groaned as he fell into bed after dropping Victor off at the guestroom. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but his chest felt tight and he nearly jumped through the ceiling when he heard splashing at the foot of his bed. Yuuri crawled to the end of his bed and looked over to find Phichit resting on the hardwood floor, grinning cheekily at the prince.

“Your face is red!” he exclaimed, pointing to Yuuri as his tail flapped excitedly on the floor beside him, light green scales shimmering in the light.

“Were you spying on me?” Yuuri asked, hiding his reddened face from his friend, though knew it was no use. His best friend really did know him better than anyone else, sometimes even more than himself.

“Well, not really. I was looking for you, because your dinner went on for, like, ten hours. And I wanted to ask you how things went, I only happened to swim by when you were with him!”

Yuuri looked at Phichit apprehensively before groaning and letting his face fall against his bed.

“You totally have a crush on him!” Phichit cried, clapping his hands. “And I don’t blame you, he is gorgeous! What was his name again? Vincent?”

“Victor,”

“Victor! Gorgeous. That _hair_!”

Yuuri whined loudly into his bed before lifting his head to look at Phichit, who was still beaming and looking entirely too excited. But Yuuri found himself nodding. “He’s way too beautiful. I could barely look at him at dinner, and he was sitting right across from me.” Yuuri explained before his eyes widened. “And he barely ate anything! Now he’s going to bed, and probably starving. Oh god, should I take him food or something?”

“What was served tonight?” Phichit asked, frowning. “Why wouldn’t he eat it?”

“We had some salmon, maybe he’s not a fish eater. But what else is there to eat?” Yuuri pushed himself off of his bed and steadied himself onto his feet. He reached for a sweater and pulled it on before securing his scarf around his neck. “Maybe I should take him some pastries from the kitchen? He ate the salad, so maybe it was the fish. Seung-gil’s pastries would definitely be better than the fish, maybe. Maybe he’s not hungry. Maybe I shouldn’t go, he probably would have mentioned if he needed something to eat?”

“Yuuri, slow down and breathe.” Phichit said quietly, reaching for Yuuri’s hand as the prince started to fall into a panic. “It won’t hurt if you go grab him something from Seung-gil, if he’s still working that is.”

Yuuri nodded quickly and made his way for the door. “Right. I’ll be back.”

 

Yuuri nibbled the inside of his lip as he made his way through the castle before jumping into one of the pools of water towards the kitchens. He moved his scarf from around his neck to breathe easier as he swam through the winding corridors and into the kitchen, relief flooding through him as he found Seung-gil still working away on the servants’ dinners.

“Can I help you, Yuuri?” the chef asked, adding a few garnishes onto the plates in front of him. Yuuri hopped on his feet from side to side, his fists clenching and unclenching with nerves.

“Do you have an buns or anything? Pastries?”

Seung-gil glanced towards the prince before sending the plated food through a door in the wall. Yuuri’s eyes widened slightly, still amazed by some of the things the castle could do after so many years, knowing that the food was automatically transported to the servants dining quarters by magic from the elders.

“Was dinner not enough?” the chef finally asked as he started to clear off his counter, setting all of the dirty dishes in the sink to be cleaned. Yuuri sighed and shook his head.

“I’m sorry. My sweet tooth, you know. I was craving something sweet. Dinner was delicious by the way, thank you.” Yuuri said with a nod, and he inwardly grinned when he saw the look on Seung-gil’s face, cheeks slightly pink. The chef quickly turned away from Yuuri and walked farther into the kitchen. He came back a few moments later with a slice of pie and a fork.

“Sea-apple pie, your favourite.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened as he took the plate from Seung-gil. The prince bowed to the chef before giving his farewell. He swam back through the hallways of the castle and up to land, giving himself a shake to dry himself off. He set the plate down on a table in one of the hallways to straighten out his newly dried clothes and scarf before making his way to Victor’s quarters.

It took Yuuri a solid few minutes to work himself up before knocking against the thick wood of the door. He could hear quiet rustling on the other side before the door opened, ever so slightly. Victor’s eyes widened at the sight of Yuuri before his eyes fell to the plate in the prince’s hand.

“I noticed you didn’t eat much at dinner, and figured you might want something more.” Yuuri said, his voice wobbling slightly as his nerves came back full force.

Victor opened the door fully, and Yuuri tried his hardest to keep his eyes off of the shirtless man standing in front of him, his long ashen locks the only thing covering the top half of his body. He was stunning.

Victor took the plate of pie from Yuuri’s hands and smiled. “Thank you, Yuuri. I usually do like fish, but that was all we ate on the ship. I hope I didn’t offend anyone.”

Yuuri shook his head. “Don’t worry about that, but fish is the only meat we eat.”

Victor gasped, as if this news was a surprise. “You’ve never had a steak? Or chicken?”

“What’s steak?”

Victor nearly dropped his plate of food before clearing his throat, steading his hands. “This is so upsetting. Steak is beef.”

“Beef?”

The older prince’s jaw dropped and he shook his head. “The kings and queens will be discussing trading tomorrow, and surely crops and livestock will be part of that. I overheard something about a fish farm?”

“Yeah, we farm our own fish as to not deplete wild fish’s population.” Yuuri said with a nod.

“So we will trade our poultry and beef for your fish.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened at the thought of trying new foods. “Seung-gil will probably enjoy experimenting with new things.”

“Seung-gil?”

Yuuri nodded. “He’s one of our chefs. He makes the best sea-apple pie, which was apparently a family recipe that he shared with everyone in the castle. He won’t tell us the actual recipe, but he makes it every time we have a good amount of sea-apples.”

“Sea-apples.”

Yuuri nodded. “We have an orchard of sea-apple trees. They’re bright purple and turn golden when you bake them.” He said, pointing to the pie still in Victor’s hands. “They’re perfectly sweet and hit the spot.” Yuuri grinned at Victor, and they both eyed each other for a few moments longer than either had intended. Victor cleared his throat and let his eyes fall to the pie in his hand while Yuuri looked to his feet. “Anyway, I should probably go back to my room. I will see you in the meeting tomorrow. Have a good night, Victor.”

“Y-yeah, good night, Yuuri.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which they part

-3-

 

Yuuri internally groaned as the meeting dragged on, and he was glad to note that Victor was feeling just as, if not _more_ bored than he was. The two had remained silent after greeting one another that morning, and the two kings and the two queens along with the rest of the council from both kingdoms spoke. Trading, the peace alliance, and other security and economic topics were discussed in depth. Yuuri wanted nothing more than to go back to his room and read, or lay in the sun with Phichit and maybe Victor. He had no idea why he needed to be in the meeting, he was only the prince! He wasn’t allowed to make any big decisions yet, and he trusted his parents completely to keep Yutopia safe and growing as it always had. It’s not as though his say had much of an effect.

Hours ticked by as the discussions went on, and Yuuri could feel his eyes start to droop and his ears start to buzz with the council continuously droning on with their monotone voices. That was until Victor kicked him from under the table to wake him up. He jumped slightly in his seat before nodding towards the other man in silent thanks, feeling his face heat up about ten degrees.

 _Finally_ the meeting came to a close, and Yuuri noticed that there were smiles all around the room, for the most part, which gave Yuuri a good feeling. He had barely been paying attention, but it seemed as though everything had worked out for everyone in the end.

Everyone in the council room moved out and the guests walked back to their quarters to get their belongings packed up. Yuuri took the time to step outside, the warm sea air brushing against his face and the scent of salt filling his nose. Yuuri took in a deep breath as he loosened the black scarf from his neck, baring the gills that separated his people from the rest of the world for all he knew.

“They’re heading back to Makka, huh?”

Yuuri’s eyes flew open as he turned to the sound of the voice, not surprised to find Phichit bobbing on the side of one of the docks.

“Yeah, they’re packing up to head out this evening.” Yuuri said, walking over to his friend before sitting down, letting his feet hang over the edge and into the warm water.

Phichit kicked up enough to rest his arms on the dock, his chin sitting on top.

“Are you going to miss him?”

Yuuri knew exactly whom Phichit was referring to, but he didn’t want to admit that he might have definitely, absolutely, wanted to keep the other prince in Yutopia.

“Miss who?” Yuuri said instead, voice cracking somewhat. He bit the inside of his lip as he looked away from Phichit, who was looking at him with a knowing grin.

“Victor and Yuuri, sitting in a tree…”

“Phichit, please.”

Phichit opened his mouth to continue, but Yuuri noticed him look somewhere behind him and it made his friend’s voice die. Instead, Phichit smiled, and Yuuri could suddenly feel the dock shake under him. He saw Phichit vaguely gesture towards his own neck, and Yuuri hurriedly tightened the scarf around his neck as he felt someone sit down beside him. Yuuri turned to his right to find Victor, causing his heart to leap out of his chest, or at least try to.

“V-Victor, have you already packed?” Yuuri asked, still completely aware that Phichit was still there.

Victor turned to Yuuri, and he couldn’t place the emotion on the other’s face before the other man smiled. “Yes, ready to go.” His voice was quiet as he spoke before he turned to the man in the water. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.” Victor said, extending his hand to Phichit.

Phichit looked between Victor’s hand and Yuuri before reaching to take it, shaking it.

“Ah, right. Victor this is Phichit, we grew up together and he’s basically my brother. Phichit, this is Prince Victor of Makka.”

Yuuri could tell it was taking everything within him to not say anything ridiculous before he finally spoke.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Prince Victor of Makka.”

Victor nodded before he furrowed his brow, and Yuuri could sense the next question from a mile away. But he was pleasantly surprised by the twist.

“I’m surprised I didn’t see you until now, if you are close to Prince Yuuri? Where have you been hiding?”

Phichit nodded slowly, trying to read Victor before he looked to Yuuri. There was a question in his eyes and Yuuri nodded, to tell him that Victor meant no harm.

“I was born with a slight _defect_ , though it is a very common one still in Yutopia and _defect_ is probably the wrong word. Do, uh, you know our history?” Phichit asked, unsure of how much Victor knew.

“I gave him a brief history last night.” Yuuri muttered as Victor nodded.

“We were originally born with fins, like any other fish.”

“Like a mermaid?” Victor offered and Phichit nodded with a frown. “They’re in many fairytales back home.”

Phichit laughed quietly as he pushed himself out of the water and onto the dock, letting the sun warm his tail as water dripped off him. Victor’s eyes widened as he looked at the light green scales that covered him up to his waist, where his tan skin took over. The Prince of Makka was speechless.

“So, yeah. It’s an incredibly minor defect, but most of our kingdom is underwater so it doesn’t bother me too much. I can survive on land, but my scales get super itchy after a while and, you can probably imagine, I can’t go places very quickly.” Phichit explained before rolling back into the water. He flipped himself back up and popped back through the surface to settle back in his former position of resting against the dock.

Victor was still speechless as he looked between Phichit and Yuuri before finally clearing his throat. “Well, I am wondering if your people have swam miles towards Makka. Perhaps our fairytales aren’t just fairytales after all.”

Phichit raised his brow and glanced to Yuuri, who nodded.

“There are records of disappearances in the past, so it’s not too farfetched.” Yuuri said slowly, recalling a few files he had seen in the royal library when he was younger.

Victor opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by horns sounding from the Makka ship. The man sighed and pushed himself up to his feet with Yuuri following close behind him.

“I’ll be back, we can go down to see Guang Hong after!” Yuuri said with a smile to Phichit, who nodded before dunking under the surface of the water.

The two princes made their way to the ship to find that the kings and queens and council had already arrived. The older generation said their farewells in a short and sweet manner before they went off in their separate ways, but Victor lingered. Yuuri watched him curiously as Victor turned to look at his king and queen before turning back to Yuuri. There was that emotion on his face again that Yuuri couldn’t read before it vanished completely, a smile spreading across his face.

“Until we meet again, Yuuri Katsuki.” He finally said, pulling Yuuri’s hand from his side and to his lips to brush the softest of kisses to the top of his hand. Yuuri’s face immediately burst into metaphorical flames and he completely lost his voice. All he could do was nod and watch as the other prince turned his back and walked up towards the ship behind his guardians.

Yuuri didn’t want to admit that his heart felt weird while he walked to his room where he was not at all surprised to find Phichit floating around and reading. Yuuri forced a smile once Phichit realized he had come back.

“Shall we visit Guang Hong? Maybe he has a new game for us to play.” Yuuri said, feigning happiness despite knowing Phichit could see right through him. Though Phichit, being the great friend he was, took Yuuri’s scarf and threw it up to the dry portion of Yuuri’s room before nodding.

“Let’s go hang out with Guang Hong.”

 

Victor felt as though the boat ride back to Makka took both too long and too short at the same time. He wasn’t ready to be back in his room yet, for he wanted to stay with the lovely Prince of Yutopia longer. He thought that Yuuri was beautiful, and he knew Christophe would lose his mind if he knew that his prediction had been somewhat right.

Victor nearly jumped out of his skin when his bedroom door opened not three hours after his arrival back to the kingdom. The hair stood on the back of his neck when he turned to find his best friend standing in the doorway with his arms crossed against his chest.

“I know that look.” He said immediately, and Victor’s mouth opened and closed like a fish as he tried to think of something to say.

“Wh-what look?” he asked, feeling stupid as his cheeks flushed. Christophe had been by his side since they had first met in primary school. Despite their small age difference, the two had been stuck at each other’s hips for years. There had been rumors of them having some sort of secret romance, but the two continued to deny it. Rumors would be rumors, of course.

“You fell in love!”

Victor looked scandalized before turning his back on his friend, his long hair whooshing around to land on his shoulder.

“I-I did not!”

“Your voice cracked, you liar.” Chris muttered, stepping into the bedroom more so he could close the door behind him. “Remember, I _am_ being trained in divination.”

Victor rolled his eyes before turning back towards Chris. “And?”

“The Prince of Yutopia,” was all Chris said causing Victor’s jaw to drop. He hadn’t spoken to Chris the entire week he had been away, and it wasn’t as though the man was getting play-by-play news updates on the royal visit. Chris smirked at the look on his friend’s face. “Bingo.”

Victor’s mind was racing as he tried to think of _something_ to get Chris off of his tail, but he knew he couldn’t. He finally let out a pathetic groan as both of his hands moved to his face.

“Okay, okay. You win.” Victor mumbled against his palms before slowly letting his arms back to his sides. “But Chris, you wouldn’t blame me in the slightest if you saw him. He was beautiful.”

“You only fall for beautiful things, after all.” Chris said, a slight tone of bitterness in his voice that Victor wished he had missed. “What was the place like? What was his name?”

And so Victor spoke of everything he had seen and done, and everything he could recall about Yuuri and the short twenty-four hours they had spent around one another.

 

“For the love of god, will you stop sighing already?”

Victor jumped at his seat at the dining room table and whipped his head over to find Yuri a few seats away, sitting with a large book in front of him along with scraps of parchment paper.

“I’m not sighing.” Victor muttered, turning back to the food he had only been pushing around on his plate with his fork for the better part of half an hour.

Yuri glared through his long blond locks before turning back to the scripts in front of him. “You haven’t actually put food in your mouth because you keep sighing.” He mumbled before sighing himself in an attempt to mock Victor. “Please, I am trying to study.”

“He’s in love.” Another voice chimed in, tone low as they tried to be considerate to the other people still sitting at the table post lunch.

Victor’s head whipped to the side once more to shoot a glare at Yuri’s companion Otabek, who was sitting across from the younger boy.

“What have I said about staying out of my head?” Victor asked, covering his head with his hands as though it could block Otabek from his thoughts.

“And what have I said about not being able to help it? You’re very loud.” Otabek countered before turning to Yuri. “He’s even sighing _internally_ , Yura.”

“Oh you poor soul, you have to hear him sigh _twice_.”

Otabek’s eyes closed before he slowly nodded. “But I cannot blame him, for he is in love with the Prince of Yutopia.”

“I’m not _in love_.”

“You’re infatuated, either way.” _Another_ voice rang in from Victor’s other side to find Chris slipping into the chair beside him, his own books in front of him. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“There’s nothing I _can_ do about it.” Victor said quickly, turning back to his cold lunch and prodding it with his fork again. “Yutopia is way over there, I’m way over here.”

He could feel three sets of eyes on him but he refused to look away from the lump of potatoes on his plate. “I can’t just _go_ to Yutopia.”

“Why not?” Chris asked, and Victor didn’t like the tone in his voice. It made him very nervous.

“The king and queen would never let me travel on my own. Not because I would do something stupid-“ Yuri laughed. “-but mostly for safety reasons.”

“Yeah, safety to other people.” Yuri muttered into his book and Victor willed himself not to throw his fork across the table.

Chris opened the book he had brought with him and flipped through the pages quietly, and for a moment Victor thought the conversation had come to an abrupt stop.

“In Cannam they are experimenting with a certain magic that can transport you from one place to another in a blink of an eye.” Chris said, stopping his flipping finally and Victor couldn’t understand a single word in front of him. “Most of the experiments have failed.”

Victor groaned. “What the hell?”

“ _Or_ , Victor, you take a rowboat, right? And you enchant it.” Christophe suggested, which almost had Victor nodding.

“Or, you just man the fuck up and tell Yakov and Lilia you would like to go back to Yutopia for longer than a day.” Yuri mumbled.

“ _Or,_ ” Chris started again, shaking his head, “I mean, you could do that, _or,_ enchant a rowboat.”

“I mean, going through proper channels won’t get you arrested when you get there.” Otabek said offhandedly as he wrote something down.

“Why would I get arrested?” Victor asked, confused. “I’m not breaking any laws?”

“Just a hunch.”

Victor looked at Otabek for a moment before turning to Chris. “I could ask—”

“ _Or_ , you can enchant a rowboat.” Chris repeated, eyes sparkling.

“You just want to enchant a rowboat.” Victor deadpanned.

“ _Please_.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there is a reunion

\- 4 -

 

“Is he _still_ out there? What the hell is he doing?”

Otabek turned around to find Yuri walking towards him, a mug in his hand as he stepped up beside him to look out the window. They were on one of the top most floors of the castle looking down at Makka Harbour, where ships and fishing boats bobbed around the docks. One boat in particular stood out, being that it was surrounded in a blue and silver glow as a man held his arms out at his sides.

“It’s been weeks, but he looks excited. The boat hasn’t turned _this_ colour before.” Otabek said, slipping behind Yuri to wrap his arms around his middle, letting his chin rest on his shoulder.

“He wasn’t lying about enchanting a boat.” Yuri mumbled before taking a sip of his coffee. It was still early in the day, far too early for Yuri’s liking, but he couldn’t sleep any longer despite staying up as late as he had. “Wait, who is that?”

Otabek squinted back down at the enchanted boat and Christophe to see someone else jump into view. The new man leaped onto Christophe’s back and waved one of his arms above his head. The couple in the tower couldn’t hear, but they could see the man shouting happily.

“Wait, is that…” Otabek started before Yuri cut him off.

“He cut his fucking hair and now he looks like an old geezer.”

Otabek turned slightly to look at the side of Yuri’s face for a moment. “You know, he really isn’t _that_ old.”

“Yes he is.”

“You’ll be twenty-eight someday.”

“Shut up.” Yuri finally muttered, turning to look at Otabek. “You’ll be twenty-eight before me.”

“Oh, and will I be an old geezer?”

Yuri’s eyebrow rose at the question and he nodded. “Yeah, but at least I lo-ike you.” The younger boy’s cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red at his slip up and he quickly turned his head away as Otabek laughed against his shoulder.

The two stayed quiet as they continued to watch the two men down on the docks.

“We should probably tell someone that this is happening.” Otabek mumbled quietly against Yuri’s neck, and the younger shook his head.

“Absolutely not. We need some entertainment in this place; Makka is so dull. We haven’t had anything happen since J.J the Cannam jester—”

“He’s the _king_ Yura…”

“ _Jester._ He’s a joke.”

Otabek sighed and turned his eyes back to Victor and Christophe. “But these two are going to get in trouble.”

Yuri shrugged. “Let them be reckless. Honestly, Victor is an idiot but I think he can sweet talk his way out of anything.”

Otabek turned his head slowly towards the side of Yuri’s face with his eyes wide. “Did you just compliment him?”

“What he doesn’t know won’t boost his ego.”

 

It was cold and it was dark by the time the boat ran out of Christohpe’s magic. He shivered, wrapped in his blanket as the row boat bobbed between the waves as he grumbled under his breath.

The enchantment that Chris had placed on the boat had landed Victor only a few miles north of Yutopia. The kingdoms lights were on the horizon, but it was still going to be a few more hours before Victor would arrive with very, very sore arms. He rubbed his hands together under the blanket as he tried to warm himself up, kicking himself that he hadn’t put on another set of layers. It was definitely much warmer where he was compared to Makka, but with the sun down and the waves whipping over the edges of the boat, splashing him with saltwater, he was freezing.

Once he mostly got the feeling back in his fingers, he reached under the bench in the rowboat and pulled out both of the oars. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head around to stretch his neck before starting to row himself in the direction of Yutopia, and more importantly, Yuuri.

Christophe’s enchantment had sped the rowboat up, quicker than any ship that Victor had ever been on, and he was amazed that he had been able to get to Yutopia as quickly as he had. He had been dreading the few day trek in a rowboat, but now with Yutopia’s lights on the horizon, he was starting to become excited. He had only received one letter from Yuuri since he had been in Yutopia weeks before, though it hadn’t said much of anything important. Despite that, Victor cherished the personalized letter and wrote Yuuri back, not once mentioning his plan to visit.

It had easily been over twenty-four hours by the time Victor was reaching Yutopia from Makka. The sun was starting to rise behind and Victor was glad to feel the warmth on his clammy skin. He was amazed that no one had tried to send a messenger out to find him; he wondered if anyone had noticed he was even gone.

Of course they’ve noticed, he thought, they would figure it out rather quickly if the prince had vanished!

Victor smiled as the boat neared the Yutopian docks, though the smile quickly fell from his face as men started to swim towards him, dressed in red uniforms with bows and arrows strapped to their back.

“Halt!” the man in the front of the pack hollered towards Victor, who immediately stopped his rowing, his heart hammering in his chest. He vaguely recognized the uniform of the Yutopian army. “State your name and why you are in our waters.”

Victor cleared his throat, eyes darting from the man to the other men behind him. Their heads bobbed in the water in front of him as they kicked their limbs under the surface.

“V-Victor Nikiforov, Prince of Makka. I have come to, uh, visit?”

The man squinted at the prince before shaking his head. “We have not been informed of any visit from the kingdom of Makka, nor do you fit the description of the Prince of Makka. Who are you?”

Victor frowned and shook his head. “I assure you, I am the Prince of Makka! I wanted to surprise Prince Yuuri, so I didn’t send a letter. Yutopia joined the peace alliance—”

“We know of the peace alliance, and the council of Makka was well aware of our weariness of intruders, which you should know if you were really the Makka Prince!”

Victor closed his eyes, internally yelling at himself for zoning out at the council meeting all those weeks before.

“I am the Prince of Makka, I _assure_ you!”

“Do you have any identification?”

Victor’s breath caught in his throat as he tried to think of all the things he brought with him. He had managed to pack light, which was usually a challenge for him. He shuffled through the backpack he brought and groaned, having forgotten his brooch with the royal family’s crest, something only one of the royal family members would own.

“No…” he mumbled, eyeing the man bobbing in the water in front of him.

“So-called Prince of Makka, we will be taking you into custody.”

“N-no! You can’t do this, please! Yuuri will tell you I am the Prince of Makka! Please, he will tell you!”

Victor watched as the men behind the leader attached hooks onto his boat, and he hung on tight as the men started to pull the rowboat towards the docks. Victor leaned forward and let his head rest in his hands as he groaned quietly. This wasn’t how he had planned his trip at all.

_“I mean, going through proper channels won’t get you arrested when you get there.” Otabek said offhandedly as he wrote something down._

_“Why would I get arrested?” Victor asked, confused. “I’m not breaking any laws?”_

_“Just a hunch.”_

As the memory slipped through his mind, he knew he really should have listened to the man.

 

Yuuri rolled over in his bed before yelping as a book landed on his bed. He pushed himself up and looked around before frowning at a blurred version of Phichit bobbing in the water at the foot of his bed.

“I was _sleeping._ ” Yuuri hissed, rubbing his hands through his hair. “What is going on?”

“There’s a ruckus going on in the main hall. I could only hear it; I couldn’t see what was going on. I’m nosy, go find out what it is.” Phichit whined, eyes tired but glittering with curiosity.

Yuuri watched Phichit for a moment before groaning. He really didn’t want to get out of the warm blanket burrito he had found himself in, but he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t curious.

“Fine.”

Yuuri pushed himself out of his bed and quickly found his toasty housecoat, which had been sitting next to a wall heater. He tightened it around his body and hummed, content, before slipping into his slippers and grabbing his glasses from his nightstand.

Yuuri scurried out of his bedroom and down the dry hallway, one arm pressed against his chest while his other hand rubbed his eyes to wake himself up. He had no idea why Phichit was out and about so early, because from what he could see once he stepped into the main foyer of the castle, the sun was barely rising.

“Prince Yuuri, what are you doing up so early?” a voice called from behind him, startling him nearly out of his skin. He whipped around to see one of the army generals walking through, dusting his hands off in front of himself.

“Ah, I heard there was a bit of noise…” Yuuri said, not really sure how to go about asking about it. Thankfully, he didn’t have to ask at all.

“Yes, well, we found an intruder off of our shores this morning and brought him in for questioning. Seems to think he’s the Prince of Makka, but—”

“V-Victor is here?” Yuuri asked, eyes wide before rushing off towards the dry cellar, the direction where the general had come from.

“Prince, it’s an intruder!” The general called, Yuuri stopping in his tracks before he had made it to the hallway entrance. “He doesn’t fit the description of the Prince of Makka, we believe him to be lying.”

There was a feeling in the pit of Yuuri’s stomach and he found himself shaking his head. “I would like to see for myself.”

Before the general could protest more, Yuuri turned on his heel and made his way down towards the dry cellar.

Yuuri shuffled quietly as he tightened his housecoat around his body, frowning at the thought of the other Prince locked up in a cell that had never been used before. They had never needed to use the dry cellar, for the Yutopian criminals were kept at the ocean floor.

“Please, Prince Yuuri will know who I am! Please, you have got to believe me!” Yuuri’s ears perked up at the familiar sound of the voice and the mention of his name. Yuuri sped down the hallway before skidding to a complete stop in front of the jail cell. His eyes were wide as he tried to recognize the man on the other side of the bars.

“V-Victor?” Yuuri asked, squinting. He looked much different than he did weeks before, and he could see why the army was being overly careful. But all the same, it was so obviously Victor.

“Yuuri! Oh thank god, please. You have to tell them that I am Victor! For whatever reason they won’t believe me!”

Yuuri rubbed his hands down his face, mindful of his glasses, to try and wake himself up completely, not wanting this all to be a dream. He wouldn’t be surprised if it _was_ a dream as Victor had been in them quite a lot lately, but he also didn’t want Victor behind bars in his kingdom.

Once Yuuri’s arms were back at his sides, he whipped his head to the guard that had been sitting watch, as though Victor would break out if someone weren’t looking after him.

“Let him out.” Yuuri said finally, causing the guard to jump in his seat from the tone of his voice. “You are not to lock up innocent men, you hear me?”

The guard scrambled to his feet and fumbled with the keys on the ring to unlock the cell. “Y-yes sir.”

Yuuri kept his gaze on the man as the door swung open and until the guard scurried out of the room before he could receive another scolding. The younger prince turned to the man inside the cell and sighed, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t have cut your hair, that is what has everyone so unsure.”

“My hair?” Victor asked, combing his fingers through the short locks on his head. “Are haircuts not a thing here?”

Yuuri glanced over to Victor before laughing. “No, no. It’s just a really drastic change.”

Victor’s eyes widened and a look of terror crossed his features. “I look terrible, don’t I?”

“No!” Yuuri cried, waving his arms in front of him before he could really stop himself. He felt his cheeks burn when he had realized what he had said. “I, uh, well, I mean,” he stuttered, voice cracking in his throat. “You look, um, very, ah…handsome.”

Victor’s face brightened as he smiled wide. “You think I’m handsome?”

“Oh my god.” Yuuri groaned, almost wishing he hadn’t opened the cell door. Yuuri turned to walk down the corridor as he heard Victor scramble behind him.

“Yuuri, wait!”

Yuuri slowed his pace until Victor caught up with him. “You should have sent a letter, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Victor was quiet for a moment so Yuuri took the moment to steal a glance at him, only to find the man watching him intently.

“Yes, yes I am aware of that now. I’m sorry for the trouble, but I wanted to come. If I had let anyone know I was coming, I wouldn’t have been able to leave Makka at all.”

“Why not?” Yuuri asked, frowning.

Victor stayed quiet as they walked across the foyer and down another hallway towards Yuuri’s bedroom. Yuuri really had no idea what to do with Victor, considering they hadn’t set up a spare bedroom for him and he didn’t want to bother the maids so early in the morning.

“My king and queen, for whatever reason, do not trust me on my own. I am a twenty-eight year old man that can’t do things on his own. How ridiculous is that?”

“So you ran away?”

The two stepped into Yuuri’s room a few moments later as Victor hummed. “I suppose you could say that, though I do intend to return. Honestly, Yuuri…” the man trailed off as his eye caught something in the corner of the room. “Phichit?”

Yuuri turned to see Phichit still bobbing in the water, his eyes wide.

“Okay, I knew _something_ was happening but I was _not_ expecting to see Victor. Hello.”

“I also wasn’t expecting to see Victor.” Yuuri mumbled, moving to climb back onto his bed. Victor looked between Phichit and Yuuri before Yuuri gestured to the end of his bed. The dry part of his room didn’t have much for furniture, other than his bed and a dresser, most of everything else being in the water.

Victor stayed quiet as he took in the room around him. The guest quarters that he had been staying in weeks before did not have entrances to the water, and were very much like any other room one would find in Makka.

“Now that the mystery is solved, I’ll leave you two alone.” Phichit called, winking before dunking himself under the water to leave Yuuri’s room.

“Your room is two levels?” Victor asked, slipping off the bed to crouch at the edge of the water. Despite the water splashing over onto the floors, the floors remained dry and Victor couldn’t help but run his hand over where it should have been soaking wet.

“It is. Which works out for Phichit, but also he likes to come into my room at all hours of the day, as you can see…” Yuuri mumbled, setting his glasses back on the nightstand. He could feel his eyes starting to strain; it was far too early to be so focused through the lenses. “Why are you really here, Victor?” Yuuri found himself asking, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Victor stayed quiet for a moment as he stood up and moved back towards the bed. He stayed at the foot of the bed without climbing onto the mattress and looked down to the bunched up comforter between himself and Yuuri. There was a light pink tinge on his cheeks the longer he stayed quiet, and Yuuri noted that he was nibbling the inside of his lip.

“I honestly wanted to come back the day that I had left.” Victor said quietly. “I wanted to come back once my foot stepped onto the ship. These last few weeks, I haven’t been able to get you off of my mind.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened and he could feel the butterflies starting to kick up a storm in his stomach. Victor had said something he had only dreamt of him saying, and it was the last thing he had expected to hear.

“Wh-what?” Yuuri croaked out, face burning in a violent blush.

Victor’s eyes moved from the blanket separating them to Yuuri’s face as he took a deep breath. “Despite our very short time together, Prince Yuuri, I have thought of nothing except you since. When I first laid my eyes on you, I knew I was dead meat. I thought you were beautiful, with your black glittering scarf and your blue suit. I wanted to stay; I wanted to get to know you more. When you brought me food after our dinner, I wanted to talk with you more but I didn’t know if I was being too forward.” Victor paused for a moment as he frowned. “I know this is probably coming off as _very_ forward but I can’t hold it in anymore. It wasn’t something I wanted to send in a letter, because despite the security in private mail nowadays, I didn’t want to chance it.”

Yuuri’s mind was racing. He pinched his leg under his housecoat, sure that he was dreaming, but he ended up wincing in pain instead.

Victor stepped around the bed, closer to Yuuri who hadn’t been able to find his words yet.

“And even now, a month later, I am still finding it very hard to not think of anything or anyone else. Now you’re in front of me again and I know I wasn’t just letting my imagination run free.” Victor said, his voice lower as he stepped up beside Yuuri. Yuuri’s eyes were wide as he looked up at the other man, swallowing a lump in his throat. He then realized that Victor’s eyes were trailing to his neck. His _bare_ neck, and he suddenly became very self aware as he tried to bury himself in his housecoat.

“Hey, hey. Stop.” Victor said, shaking his head as he reached forward and his voice kind. Yuuri took a few moments before he stopped trying to hide as Victor moved to sit on the side of the bed and reached forward, letting his finger tips gently graze across the slits on Yuuri’s neck. “You know I had wondered…” There was a brief pause before Victor withdrew his hand from Yuuri’s neck. “Why do you hide?”

Yuuri was nervous as he took a deep breath. He knew he shouldn’t be nervous, for Victor had been nothing but kind. Though all the same, he barely knew the man.

“It was after the pirates. We were called freaks, amongst other names, worse names.” Yuuri explained softly. “I don’t remember much, because I was so young then, but our high seamstress Minako had come up with the scarf idea soon after, in case we had any more visitors. We don’t get many, you see, but we didn’t want to be called names for something that we can’t help but have, despite how ugly they are.”

Victor slowly shook his head and offered a gentle smile. “They’re far from ugly, Yuuri. They make you who you are, and if I haven’t made myself incredibly clear, I really like who you are. They don’t make you any less beautiful. In fact, I think they add to your charm.”

Yuuri opened and closed his mouth a few times before turning away from Victor, unable to look at the man any longer. The words that had been leaving his lips were too much; he couldn’t bear to listen anymore. No one had ever told him such things, and he didn’t believe any of them to be true. The look on Victor’s face made it seem like he truly meant every word, though. Yuuri had lived so long with not liking himself one way or another; he never would have dreamt that someone would feel so strongly about him, especially by someone that he felt quite strongly about himself.

“Th-thank you.” He finally said, voice squeaking over the words. Yuuri’s mind was trying to form all the sentences he wanted to say, but nothing was making sense. His eyes closed as he tried to focus, and he was thankful that Victor remained quiet and perfectly still so he could concentrate on his thoughts and nothing else.

Before Yuuri spoke again, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “If we are being honest, as I am sure you are…” Yuuri started, trailing off slightly as he opened his eyes. Victor was watching him with such gentle eyes and a small smile it caught him off guard. “I, like you, have been having difficulty thinking of anything else.”

“You’ve been thinking of yourself? Jeez, Yuuri, selfish.”

“No!” Yuuri cried, waving his arms. “No, _god_.” The man groaned and fell back against his pillows with his eyes closed, though peeked them open once he heard Victor laughing.

“I’m sorry.”

Yuuri watched him for a moment, taking in the sight in front of him. “You haven’t left my mind since you left Yutopia.” He found himself saying, which was much more simple than what he had originally thought.

At the confession, Victor’s eyes widened and his back straightened.

“R-really? I, wow.” Victor’s hands fidgeted in his lap

At that reaction, Yuuri couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “ _Please_ , you probably get love confessions every single day.”

Victor arched his brow and slowly shook his head. “I can’t say that I do. My guardians continue mentioning to me though that they’re going to arrange a marriage for me if I don’t find someone myself…”

Yuuri’s face turned a brilliant shade of red at that before Victor realized what he had said.

“Marriage…” Yuuri muttered as the other shook his head quickly.

“Ah, no, no. Not what I had in mind. I mean, maybe one day but, wow, no. At least let me take you on a date first.”

Yuuri was sure his face couldn’t turn any redder. He still felt as though this was all a dream, he was still exhausted, and he wasn’t sure if the Prince of Makka was really sitting on his bed or if his imagination had gotten way too advanced.

The two men stayed quiet for a minute to get their thoughts under control, and surprisingly, Yuuri was the first to speak.

“Where would you like to go on a date?”

Victor’s head shot up with surprise. “You would like to go on a date?”

Yuuri nibbled the inside of his bottom lip as he slowly nodded, and the smile that crossed Victor’s face was blinding.

“There are many places I would love to take you in Makka, but since we are here in Yutopia, take me to your favourite place above the water. We can take food with us.”

Yuuri slowly nodded his head and smiled. “Okay. We can go after we inform the council and my parents of your arrival. And breakfast.” He added as his stomach rumbled.

 

It was a short while later when the two left Yuuri’s room. Victor told Yuuri everything that had happened up until his arrival that morning, and went into great detail about Christophe’s enchanted boat.

_“He originally started studying to become a healer, but he’s learning all of the wrong things!” Victor cried, shaking his head. “Though I suppose it’s working out in my favour.”_

When the two had walked into the dining hall, after Yuuri had put on actual clothes, the look on his parent’s faces was priceless.

“P-Prince Victor?” his mother had said almost immediately, jumping up from the table, hurrying to push her shawl up around her neck.

“Mom, it’s okay!” Yuuri was quick to say, waving his hands and looking between his parents.

Yuuri and Victor moved to sit at the table, and the two explained what had happened that morning.

“My word, Victor, my dear boy, you should have sent word of your arrival! We would have had a room ready for you.” The queen said before taking a sip of her morning tea. “Surely there would have been less of a fuss.”

“Maybe less of a fuss here, ma’am, but my guardians wouldn’t have allowed me to leave, I assure you.” Both the king and queen watched Victor for a moment, before he sighed. “I promise I am here with only good intentions. They are very strict, however. I have sent home a letter this morning, to let them know I have arrived here. And I am sure that someone will be here any day to take me back home, but honestly, I would much rather stay here right now.”

Yuuri held back the smile that wanted to spread across his face, catching Victor’s eye before looking down to his plate of toast. He could feel his cheeks heat up at hearing that Victor wanted to stay, and he could feel the warmth travel to the tips of his ears. He really hoped his parents didn’t catch on just yet.

“Well, Prince Victor of Makka, you are more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you need. We can set up one of the guest rooms close to Yuuri’s quarters, so you can make yourself at home.” Hiroko said with a large grin on her face, while her husband nodded earnestly.

Victor beamed back at the two and bowed in his seat. “Thank you both for your hospitality. Again, I am so sorry for barging in so early in the morning. I am sorry to have troubled your army.”

The conversation continued as such between Victor and Hiroko, until Yuuri finished his toast in order to pull Victor out of the dining hall.

“You really don’t have to apologize so much, Victor.” Yuuri mumbled as he tried to figure out where to go. With Victor, it made Yutopia seem very small. There were lots of places up in the trees to go, but he was saving that for later. Instead, he walked towards the docks where he usually soaked in the sunrays with Phichit.

Yuuri, out of the corner of his eye, could see Victor looking around at everything with a thoughtful smile on his face.

“I just feel guilty for the ruckus this morning, I’m sorry.” Victor finally said, turning to look at Yuuri with a soft gaze. “Have you thought about where to go for our date?”

Yuuri immediately looked away from Victor, knowing he was going to start blushing _again_ that morning and he found himself nodding anyway.

“Y-yes. One of my favourite places that I can take you.”

Victor hummed quietly as they stopped at the edge of the dock, the sun shining bright over them and reflecting off of the large expanse of ocean in front of them.

“I wonder if Christophe could enchant me up some gear so I can see the rest of Yutopia.”

Yuuri turned to look at Victor curiously, his eyebrow arched. “Could he do that?” he asked, unable to even think of a way to see the rest of the kingdom without being able to breathe. It wasn’t as if Victor could whip out a pair of gills with magic!

Victor rubbed his chin for a moment before he sunk to his knees, twisting himself to sit properly. He tugged off his shoes and socks before dipping them into the cool water below.

“Well, maybe. He got me here, didn’t he? Or at least he got me very close. I had to row a lot this morning.”

Yuuri followed Victor to sit, his feet immediately finding their way into the water. He looked down to both pairs of feet and bit the inside of his lip, immediately seeing another physical difference between them both. Where Yuuri had grown up with webbed feet in order to swim, Victor’s feet were webless and nothing like Yuuri had ever seen before. Yuuri leaned forward to look at the man’s toes better and whipped his head to the side once he heard Victor laugh.

“How would you swim with those?” Yuuri asked before he could really stop himself, and Victor laughed louder.

“With great difficulty. I am a terrible swimmer, despite the years of lessons when I was much younger.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened. “You can’t swim?”

“You should teach him how to swim!” a voice interrupted, and both men sitting on the dock turned to find Phichit swimming from under the dock with a large grin on his face. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t eavesdropping much. I was swimming through getting a bite to eat when I ran into your mother, Yuuri. Supposedly a ship from Makka is coming in a few days, now the castle is all in a flurry again.”

Victor groaned. “They move so fast.”

“We are all the way out here, but our messengers fly fast.” Yuuri muttered.

Sighing, Victor let his head fall back so he could feel the warmth of the sun on his face. “Well, the ship won’t be here for a few days anyway, so we may as well make the best of it.”

There was silence before Phichit spoke up with an all-knowing tone in his voice that Yuuri usually dreaded. “Well, if that sounds like what I think it sounds like, I am going to leave you two alone.”

Yuuri didn’t miss the smirk on Phichit’s face before he dove under the water towards the shops.

There was a short span of silence between the two men on the dock before Victor turned to Yuuri.

“Well, since we have a set amount of time together now, shall we get ready for our date?”

Yuuri’s eyes widened briefly before he nodded. “Y-Yeah. I’ll go get some food from Seung-gil.”

Victor nodded before he pushed himself up to his feet before offering his hand to Yuuri to help him up. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll pick you up from your room in a few hours.”

Yuuri tried to will his face from heating up, but it was no use. “I will see you in a few hours.”

As Victor turned back to the castle, Yuuri leaped into the water to swim towards the castle’s kitchens.

 

Victor wandered back towards the castle once he had parted ways with Yuuri at the dock. He looked around the large building once he had stepped back inside and sighed quietly, unsure of where to really go. He knew he had a few hours to kill before he was supposed to ‘pick up’ Yuuri, but he hadn’t really planned on what he could do to fill the time.

As he wandered through the lobby, one of the maids ran up to him with a large grin on her face.

“Master Victor, it is nice to see you again! We have your room ready, if you would please follow me.”

“M-Master?” Victor stuttered, but followed after the young woman anyway, down towards the hall in the same direction of Yuuri’s.

The two came to a full stop one door away from Yuuri’s bedroom and the maid pushed it open to reveal a large bedroom. The bed was freshly made with a large canopy over top. There were two sets of dressers against both walls, and a closet just big enough for a few jackets. The only thing that seemed odd was the lack of window, much like Yuuri’s room, but by the design of the castle, it made sense Victor figured.

Victor turned to the woman that had led him there and smiled. “Thank you, miss.”

The woman in question blushed as she moved back towards the bedroom door, her cheeks turning as red as the apron wrapped around her. “The bag you had on you in the boat from this morning has been put in the drawers for you. If you need anything else, just ring the bells.”

Victor glanced to the nightstand where he saw the bells she spoke of before nodding. “Yes, thank you.”

The woman hurriedly left after closing the door behind her, and Victor moved towards the drawers to find his small bag of clothes. He knew he had to have packed something nice enough for a date. He didn’t know what the date entailed, exactly, but he only had the nicest clothes of course.

He pulled every shirt and every pair of pants from the rucksack and scrunched his nose. He only had the nicest clothes _for Makka._

“I suppose I could find some local styles,” he muttered to himself as he laid out one of his button up shirts. He wished he had owned more short sleeved shirts, for the weather was much warmer in Yutopia than Makka.”

He went through his clothes once more before shoving them all back into the drawers of one of the dressers. He left the bedroom shortly after and walked back out of the castle.

There were many shops on the surface of Yutopia, spread through the trees while connected by multiple boardwalks. After the last visit, Victor wished he had had more time to explore all the shops that Yutopia had to offer; the items would give him another perspective of Yutopian life.

The closest shops to the dock were those selling fish, but the more he walked down the main boardwalk, the more unique the shops became. He passed a bakery and a barber before coming upon a clothing shop. A grin spread upon his face as he walked through the door, a bell chimed overhead as he stepped across the threshold.

The shop was small but packed full of clothes, bright colours in all directions and Victor didn’t know where to even start. He was about to walk towards one end of the shop when a woman stood up from behind the counter, a smile spreading slowly across her face.

“My, my. It is a pleasure to serve the Prince of Makka.” She said, bowing her head. “I had a feeling I may see you here.”

Curious, Victor stepped towards the woman behind the counter before she stuck out her hand to shake his. “You did?”

“A little bird told me. I’m Minako.”

Victor’s eyes widened slightly at remembering the name and he nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.” He said, shaking her hand. “I am looking for a couple outfits actually, since it is much warmer here than my home. I’ll be here for at least a few days, and I’d rather not die from heatstroke.”

“Say no more, I will find you everything you need.”

 

Yuuri spent the better part of the following few hours as a nervous wreck. The morning turned into afternoon, and the food he had requested from Seung-gil had been brought to his room in a picnic basket. He was glad that Phichit had agreed come to distract him, to keep his mind off of the impending date by asking a million different questions about everything, except the date. It also was nice to have a second opinion on his choice of clothing.

“You wore blue on the day you met, you should wear blue again.” Phichit said, resting his arms on the floor as he kicked his tail under him.

Yuuri nodded as he frantically pushed through the hanging shirts and pants in his closet, and dug through the piles of clothes in his drawers. He closed his eyes a few different times to regain his thoughts before continuing.

By the end of the panic, Yuuri had managed to put together a comfortable set of clothes that was Phichit-approved.

“Take a few deep breaths, Yuuri. You’re going to be okay.”

“I’ve never been on a date before! What if it goes horrible?”

Phichit arched his brow at Yuuri before shaking his head. “It’s only going to go horrible if you keep thinking it will. It’s Victor, and you two seem so _relaxed_ around each other. You’re going to be fine.”

Yuuri gulped down a lump in his throat before nodding. He had to believe Phichit was right; otherwise he would completely lose his mind.

“I’m going to head out though to give you some time to cool down. Just breathe, Yuuri.”

Yuuri nodded once more before Phichit disappeared into the water. And it was only a few minutes later when there was a light knock on his bedroom door. With shaky legs, Yuuri stepped towards the door and opened it, finding Victor waiting on the other side. Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of him.

“V-Victor…”

Minako had done a marvelous job in finding Victor clothing that afternoon, and he had shown up in something sharp but lightweight. He wore a light grey button up short sleeve shirt underneath a navy blue vest. The black cropped pants held up by a black leather belt held everything in place. Yuuri had to clear his throat to bring himself back to reality and to stop drooling over the other prince.

“You look great.” Yuuri managed to croak out before stepping to the side to let Victor in.

Victor wasn’t subtle at all in how he looked at Yuuri’s own choice of attire and he smiled. “As do you, Yuuri.”

Both men couldn’t stop grinning and Yuuri was finding it hard to look at Victor, feeling as though his face would burst into flames any time he did. Yuuri truly believed that Victor was way, way out of his league. Little did he know, Victor felt the same way about him.

After Yuuri had pulled a blanket out of his closet, the two men left the bedroom and made their way through the castle. Yuuri led the way towards the east wing of the castle before they started to climb up one of the towers. The towers of the castle were very rarely used, and when Yuuri had been much younger and allowed to explore on his own, he found he quite liked the quiet towers, especially when his anxiety got the best of him. It kept him busy, running up and down the stairs, and his favourite place was just beyond the top most window.

“I wasn’t ready for a work out, Yuuri.” Victor said, gasping for air as they neared the top of the tower. Yuuri chuckled, barely winded as he stepped up to the large window at the top, pushing it open.

“I’m sorry. You wanted to see my favourite place.”

“I know. It’s definitely worth it.”

Yuuri stepped out of the window and Victor gasped at the large deck that circled the tower. It was wide enough to lay a blanket, and the short ledge around the end gave them security as they settled on the ground.

The view was amazing, and Victor looked every which way from where they sat. The trees were still looming behind them, but they were much closer to the tops. Victor was sure it was much taller than the building he lived in. The ocean went for miles, and faded away on the horizon. Victor glanced over the edge of the deck and the surface of Yutopia seemed even smaller, the people milling about as small as ants.

“So this is Yuuri’s favourite place.” Victor mumbled softly, leaning back to rest against the tower wall.

Yuuri nodded, his eyes closing as he soaked in the sun’s rays. “Yes. It’s very relaxing here.”

Victor hummed quietly and let his eyes close, enjoying the moment. The waves splashed against the Yutopian shores softly in the distance, while gulls squawked at the fishermen bringing their fish to the shops. Smaller birds lived in the trees behind the tower, and they chirped happily away as they got ready for dinner.

The two princes continued to bask in the glow of the sun for a short while longer before Yuuri opened the picnic basket. He grinned when he saw all the food that Seung-gil had prepared for him.

“We got a shipment from Makka with what you had called _beef_. Seung-gil has been over the moon, experimenting with many different things.  I've never seen him so excited.” Yuuri explained as he pulled out a few different containers. “Everything he has made so far that I have tried has been so tasty, so I decided to go with something I know you might like.”

Victor gasped as Yuuri opened a few of the containers. There were two filled with different salads, and one that looked very much like stew. Victor’s face flushed bright as he heard his stomach rumble loudly.

“This looks divine.” He said quietly, taking the spoon that Yuuri had offered him. The first piece of stew to touch his tongue was enough for Victor; the rest of the meal didn’t last long at all. “My regards to the chef, he is very good at what he does.”

“I will let him know you think so.” Yuuri grinned at that as he continued to pick away at his salad. He felt bad that he had barely touched his own food, but he was overly anxious about the date it was making his stomach flip.

Yuuri put the containers back in the picnic basket before leaning back against the tower, eyes closing again. His stomach was flipping more and more as the silence dragged on. He was never very good with small talk, though he wanted to talk to Victor. He really wanted to know everything about the man, but he also didn’t want to hound him with questions. He definitely didn’t want to scare the other prince away by being over eager.

Victor on the other hand could feel something off in Yuuri’s mood, and as he continued to eye the other prince from the side, he finally decided to take matters into his own hands.

Victor talked.

He talked about everything and nothing. He talked about growing up in Makka, and all the stupid things he did to make the guardians not trust him like they should. He talked about all the stories he could think of, all of the adventures he went on with Christophe, or with Yuri and Otabek. He talked about the many visits to Cannam, and described the kingdom in great detail, and the time their convoy got stuck in the mountains because of a blizzard.

“I thought I was going to die, Yuuri! I was so, so scared!”

Victor continued to talk until Yuuri finally started to warm back up, until he started to chime into the conversation. Yuuri soon started to talk as well, talking about growing up in the water, and how swimming comes to him as easily as breathing. He told Victor a few stories about himself and Phichit, and how sometimes they would pull Seung-gil and Guang Hong into their shenanigans.

As they continued to share stories, the sun continued to fall against the horizon. The sky turned brilliant shades of pinks and purples before the night fell completely and the princes were surrounded by nothing but darkness and the expanse of stars overhead.

The two shifted on the blanket to lie on their backs, bodies closer together than how they had been sitting and neither seemed to notice.

Yuuri was the first to speak up, telling stories of the constellations that his father had told him many years before. He pointed up to the stars as he spoke, and Victor turned his head to watch Yuuri speak. He’d never admit out loud that he wasn’t paying much attention to the stories, all of his attention was on the other prince beside him, talking with such passion as he remembered all of the things the king had told him.

Yuuri continued to speak as Victor’s hand slowly moved to wrap around Yuuri’s free one, causing the prince to stumble over his words. In the moonlight, Victor could see the pink on the other’s cheeks, but Yuuri continued to tell him stories of the many constellations, much different than the stories in Makka.

As the last story finished, Yuuri took a deep breath to calm him. With Victor’s hand intertwined with his own, he was finding it difficult to continue talking, and he was finding it difficult to turn his head to look at the man beside him.

Victor bit the inside of his lips as he watched Yuuri’s unsure expression. He wasn’t exactly sure if he had crossed a line, but Yuuri’s fingers tightened around his hand gave him the feeling that he hadn’t. There were words and feelings bubbling up within Victor’s chest in that moment, as the moon’s light lit up their little place on the tower deck, illuminating Yuuri as though he was the only person in the world. And in that moment, he was the only person in his world. He tried to swallow down all of the feelings, all of the words he wanted to spill but as he shifted on the blanket, he couldn’t stop himself.

“You are so beautiful.” Victor murmured, his face immediately turning a deep shade of pink. Yuuri’s eyes widened ever so slightly as his head slowly turned towards him, his mouth gaping open.

Victor’s heart broke somewhat at the man’s reaction. Victor believed Yuuri was beautiful, and it boggled his mind that no one had ever told him so.

“Beautiful is an understatement.” Victor added a few moments later, and Yuuri bit the inside of his lip. Yuuri’s eyes were searching Victor’s for the lie, but he could only find sincerity.

Yuuri’s heart was hammering so fast, so loud, that he was sure Victor could feel it between them. He swallowed down what felt like butterflies trying to escape out of mouth before a small smile formed on his lips.

“Thank you, Victor.”

Yuuri’s voice was quiet and shaky, and Victor couldn’t stop himself from reaching over with his free hand to brush his hand down Yuuri’s cheek, his thumb caressing his skin ever so lightly. Yuuri’s face was warm with his blush, but Victor didn’t seem phased in the slightest.

Neither of the princes knew how much time had passed while they watched one another, neither seemed to care for that matter. Their hands continued to rest between them, fingers still locked together, as Victor’s hand stayed put on Yuuri’s face.

And neither prince really planned for it to happen, as they both slowly came together, their lips meeting for the first time, slow and tentative. For what it was worth, the kiss didn’t last long, it wasn’t much of anything aside from a graze of lips, but as Victor pulled back, Yuuri followed his lips not wanting to part, while Victor was having a difficult time holding himself back.

“Th-there is this saying in Makka.” Victor found himself saying, his voice cracking over his words. “That when you kiss someone for the first time and see fireworks, you know you’re doing something right.”

Yuuri cocked his head slightly at the random statement. “Oh?”

Victor nodded, before leaning in to recapture Yuuri’s lips, which he gladly accepted.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there is an end

-5-

 

Victor stopped in his tracks and held out his arm to stop Yuuri from walking into the throne room. His eyes were wide when he turned to the man beside him, hearing the voices of the Makka king and queen already inside.

“Please, let us repay you for any damage Victor may have caused over the last few days. We are so incredibly sorry for our selfish prince.” Yakov pleaded, and Victor rolled his eyes at the man’s words.

“Yes, we really had no idea that that imbecile would come all the way here in a _rowboat._ ” Lilia chimed in, voice as harsh as always. Yuuri shuddered at the abrasiveness, even though it wasn’t directed at him at all.

“Honestly, Lilia, Yakov, it’s quite alright. It was a surprise to find Victor in our kingdom but he has been nothing but a pleasant guest these last few days. He’s been spending a lot of time with our son, Yuuri, and they’ve become quite close it seems.” Yuuri heard his mother say, feeling the blush heating his cheeks. “They’ve been nearly inseparable.”

“My darling wife is right, those two have been attached at the hip since Yuuri freed Victor from the dry cellar.”

“Dry cellar? You arrested our prince?” Lilia cried loudly, making both Yuuri and Victor step back from the door at the jarring sound.

“Lilia please.” Yakov whispered loudly as both the king and queen of Yutopia tried to shush them both.

“No, no. He’d cut his hair, our army was being overly secure and thankfully Yuuri freed him not ten minutes after he’d been put behind the bars.” Hiroko explained, her voice calming as it always was.

There was silence inside the room and Victor and Yuuri turned to one another. Yuuri could see the nervousness on the other man’s face, and without really thinking about it, he reached forward to take Victor’s hand, squeezing it gently. His parents had been right; the two had barely spent time apart except to sleep.

“You’ll be okay. It’ll be fine. Let’s go.” Yuuri said quietly, though he could feel the nervousness welling up in his own stomach as he stepped around the corner into the throne room, pulling Victor behind him.

“Yuuri, there you are.” His father greeted with a warm smile. “And Prince Victor, I am glad the messenger found you.”

“I think Minami was about to keel over by the time he found us. He was completely red in the face when finally relayed the message, he might be asleep in a stairwell somewhere now. He seemed rather tired…” Yuuri explained as he walked up the carpet towards the three seats at the front of the room, not looking at his parents as he did so, so they couldn’t see that he had lied about why Minami may or may not have been passed out in a stairwell. Victor shuffled quietly behind him, his hand tightly grasping Yuuri’s.

They may or may not have left the poor messenger boy in the stair well after he’d found them in a rather heated make out session. It took all of the boy’s will power to relay the message before darting farther up the tower stairs with a wicked blush.

Yuuri stopped once they had reached where Yakov and Lilia were standing at the bottom of the steps that led to his parents. He bowed politely and reluctantly let go of Victor’s hand. He really didn’t want to let him go, and he was quite nervous as to how the rest of the day was going to play out.

“It is nice to see you again.” He greeted quietly before turning to look at Victor apologetically before making his way to his seat.

“What the _hell_ were you thinking?” Yuuri heard Yakov hiss as he slid into his chair, more uncomfortable than he remembered it ever being. He kept his eyes on Victor, who kept his own downcast as his guardians whispered angrily at him. Yuuri wished there was something he could do, but in that moment he knew he needed to stay quiet.

Prince Yuuri nibbled the inside of his lip before looking to his parents. His father’s head was in his hands and he then realized his mother was looking directly at him. There was something in her eyes that Yuuri couldn’t exactly read before she turned back to the three guests standing below.

“Maybe we should hear what Victor has to say?” she suggested finally, turning towards their guests, and Yuuri could feel relief spreading through his body. His parents had always been fair; they’d always been the type of king and queen to hear both sides of the stories rather than jumping to conclusions. It was true that the army could take a page out of their book when it came to finding ‘intruders’, but that was for another time.

“Yes. Why is our idiot prince in Yutopia?”

“I’m not an idiot. I wish you two would stop calling me that.” Victor muttered, glaring at the king and queen standing beside him, so quietly that Yuuri had nearly missed it. His voice was much louder, much clearer once he spoke again. “Do you _really_ want to know why I came back here? Or are you going to shrug it off like you always do, call me an idiot, and drag me back to Makka?” His guardians stayed silent as they looked at their prince, who had straightened his back to make himself his tallest.

Victor turned to look at the three Katsuki’s sitting down, his eyes pausing on Yuuri’s. Yuuri offered a small smile for encouragement and Victor nodded, closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate.

And then Victor let out everything that had been pent up for the last month. Everything that Yuuri had already heard, but his parents had not. He explained the real reasons for coming back to Yutopia, that he had felt a connection with Yuuri and that he wanted to explore that feeling. He explained the enchanted rowboat, and demanded that Christophe stay out of the dungeons for it, he didn’t deserve to be punished for something Victor had done. He clarified that yes, he and Yuuri had spent every day together, nearly all day, though excluded any information that could possibly embarrass either of them, especially one that involved one messenger boy from only a short time earlier.

“We have a connection. I can feel it right in my bones. When we part for the night, I wish it was morning so we could be with each other again.”

As Victor spoke, he looked between his guardians and the king and queen of Yutopia. He stepped between the two parties and up to the second step.

“Yuuri is the first person that has ever made me feel the way I feel, and I am feeling a lot. My heart stops when I see him because he is just that beautiful.”

Yuuri slouched down in his seat, embarrassed as hell and so glad that Victor hadn’t decided to tell anyone _what_ they had been doing every day for the past few days. It was bad enough he hadn’t seen Phichit for over twenty-four hours for nearly the same reason Minami may have actually died.

“Look, maybe I am getting ahead of myself because I have been known to do that from time to time.” Victor continued, running his hands through his short locks, trying to keep himself calm. “But I really like it here. Yeah, I miss Makka, of course. I have far more access to Makka than I do to Yutopia, but I like it here. I like the people here and I’d like to stay a bit longer. Or maybe…” Victor trailed off as he turned to look at Yuuri, cheeks flushed pink as he spoke, completely overwhelmed with every emotion coursing through his body in that moment. “Maybe Yuuri would like to come to Makka, because I am not ready to part with him. I feel so very deeply for Prince Yuuri of Yutopia. I’ve been deprived of a life and deprived of actual love in Makka, but as soon as I saw Yuuri something changed.” Victor turned from Yuuri to his guardians as Lilia scoffed. “You may mock love at first sight, but I honestly believe in this instance that it exists.”

Yuuri’s heart was pounding in his chest as he sat back up in his seat. He tried to look anywhere else but at Victor, but it was difficult, especially as the man turned back to look at him.

“It’s only been a few days, sure, but I am feeling _so much_ that the thought of leaving Yuuri again breaks my heart. Maybe it is love, or maybe it’s just the beginning of it, but I don’t want to leave him.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened as he moved one hand to cover his mouth. He didn’t realize Victor felt so strong, and so very much the same as himself. He had been dreading the day that Victor would leave; he didn’t want to be alone again. He knew he wouldn’t be _alone_ , but Victor brought him something different.

“If I’m being forced to go back to Makka,” Victor finally continued, his eyes breaking away from Yuuri to look at his parents, “I would very much like to bring him with me, if I have your permission. If Yuuri would like to come with me.”

Silence filled the room with Victor’s invite, and Yuuri slipped to the edge of his seat. He wasn’t sure what to do or say as his eyes whizzed from Victor to his parents, who both looked shocked.

“Why would Yuuri need to come to Makka?” Yuuri heard Lilia ask, causing his eyes to dart towards her.

“Ma’am, please.” Victor mumbled, turning slightly in her direction though never fully turning away from Yuuri.

Yuuri could feel his parents looking at him and he knew he needed to speak up, he knew he couldn’t stay quiet forever. He found himself standing up from his seat, his legs somewhat shaky as though he had been standing for three days straight. He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat, as he looked around the room, so glad that the rest of the kingdom’s council hadn’t come in for the meeting.

“I, uh, I would very much like to see Makka.” Yuuri said, stuttering over his words. “Like Victor, I’m not ready to part ways. Over these last few days there has definitely been something forming between us, and I would hate to have it end so soon. I would very much like to go back to Makka with you, but I would also enjoy if you stay longer, of course. I understand that Yutopia isn’t built for those that cannot survive underwater, so I would like to see where Victor is from.” Yuuri slowly turned to his parents, his eyes wide as he realized what he had said. His mother had tears in her eyes but she was smiling bright back at him. “Could I visit Makka?”

“Of course.” Both cried almost immediately and Yuuri could feel the nervous butterflies mingle with those swarming with excitement.

He then turned to the King and Queen of Makka. “Would that be okay?”

Yakov and Lilia remained quiet for a moment as they eyed each other in a silent conversation. Victor stood between both families, his head whipping back and forth as he waited for an answer, reminding Yuuri of the dogfish kept as pets below sea level.

“The people of Yutopia are always welcome in Makka.” Lilia finally said with a tone of defeat. “I can see that you see something in our Prince, and while we don’t understand, I can see how this could benefit both of our kingdoms once you two marry.”

There was a beat of silence in the throne room before everyone cried out loud in confusion at the realization of what Lilia had just said, and Yuuri and Victor both wanted to die of embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> you may yell at me about victuuri and other yoi things on [tumblr](http://plisstsky.tumblr.com) or [twitter!](https://twitter.com/sugawrites)
> 
> kudos and comments are the bees knees!


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